Name
Section
6.2 British English
The following passage contains many words and phrases characteristic of the British English spoken in London. As you read it, try to identify these words and phrases and their meaning in American English; then turn to the question that follows.
Nigel, wearing a smart lounge suit and carrying the inevitable waterproof, descended from the lift of his London flat and posted a letter in the pillarbox. Feeling hungry, Nigel turned into his favourite pub for a pint and some lunch. Bubble and squeak and bangers and mash did not appeal to him today. Instead, he chose plaice with potato. When he ordered, he learned that he had three choices of potato: chips, crisps, and jacket potato. He ordered the jacket potato with a side of courgettes and a slice of wholemeal bread.
After finishing lunch, Nigel walked onto the pavement and stopped to tighten his shoelaces. As he was passing a draper's shop, he suddenly remembered he needed something from a chemist. After having his order filled, he entered a call box, with the intention of calling his friend Llewellyn, since he had forgotten to call before he left his flat. He soon learned that the line was engaged, so he decided that if he was ever to catch Llewellyn up, he should have to take the Tube to Llewellyn's flat. Matters were not so simple since the IRA had phoned in bomb threats so the Tube was running late. The crowds around the buskers in the Tube did not help either.
On top of the Tube problem, it was a bank holiday. The shop assistants were walking with their boyfriends, and many of them were on their way to the cinemas. Matters were rather chaotic on the streets. Animal rights protesters were marching, and one had inadvertently stepped in front of a coach. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Finally Nigel arrived at the flat of his friend Llewellyn. Because the day was bright, they decided to take a trip by train to Brighton and so booked a return. Since the trip was short, they only took monkeynuts and drinks. They read on the way, and a Times headline read, "England have won the soccer tournament." Also in the TiPnes there was a report on Estuary English, a dialect which was having a major impact on London English. The two friends enjoyed the day and were glad to be out of the bustling city. (Revised from BlanckCIAbraham 193511953, 49-50)
Question
Translate as much of the passage as you can into American English. Try to guess the meaning of each word that you do not know.
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Name
Section
7.1 indo-European to English I
Question
The reconstructed Indo-European (IE) words given in 1-8 are the ancestors of words in Modem English. Both the pronunciation and the meaning have changed. Your task is to determine what the descendant English word is and to describe how the meaning has changed. (Note: Each IE word 1-8 is preceded by *. In the context of historical linguistics, * denotes a reconstructed form, not an ungrammatical form.)
The first step in each case is to apply Grimm's Law, where possible. (For a discussion of Grimm's Law, see Linguistics, pp. 324-327.)
Grimm's Law
a.b + p d + t g + k
b.p--+f t + 0
k + x (+h)
c.bh + b (v) dh --+ d
gh -+ g
For example, applied to IE *sub, meaning "juice," G r i m ' s Law will yield sap, which you can identify as an English word whose meaning has narrowed to mean 'tjuice of a tree."
The consonant changes will apply consistently in words 1-8 (although Modern English will often have v in place of bh). The vowels, however, undergo much more complicated changes. To determine the descendant English word in each case, replace the IE vowel with different vowels (e.g., a, e, i, U , U)until you find an English word that has a meaning related to the meaning of the IE word. For example, the IE word *ghrem meant "angry." Applying Grimm's Law yields gr-vowel-m. Substituting different vowels yields gram, grem, grim, grom, grum. The English word grim is a likely descendant because it still carries the negative emotional sense found in the IE word.
a,
-3
U
2
CL
2?
+
2
0
n
E
I
7
0
CU0
0
You need to be mentally flexible for this exercise: experiment and make your best guess about what could be a plausible descendant word. With respect to meaning changes, you will see that the words sometimes narrow in meaning, sometimes broaden, and sometimes drift, both in reference and metaphorically. Note also that some IE verbs end up as English nouns, and some IE nouns end up as English verbs.
1.IE word: *smer
Meaning: "grease, fat" English word: Meaning change:
2.IE word: *gleubh
Meaning: "to cut, split off" English word:
Meaning change:
3.IE word: *del(l)
Meaning: "to split, carve, cut" English word:
Meaning change:
4.IE word: *gembh
Meaning: "tooth" English word: Meaning change:
5.IE word: *bhrew
Meaning: "to boil, ferment" English word:
Meaning change:
6.IE word: *plew
Meaning: "to rain" English word: Meaning change:
7.IE word: *agr(o) (Note: There is no trace of the (0) in Modem English.) Meaning: "field"
English word: Meaning change:
8.IE word: *webh
Meaning: "to weave" English word: Meaning change: